


"Are you asking me out on a friend date?"

by oathkeptroxas



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Development, Character Study, Enemies to Friends, Heart-to-Heart, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 16:15:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16622219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oathkeptroxas/pseuds/oathkeptroxas
Summary: Felicity and Black Siren go for pizza. Conversation gets heavy. ✌(Please read author's note.)





	"Are you asking me out on a friend date?"

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't watched Arrow since 4x17. I don't intend to ever again. However I've always loved the concept of multiple realities and the narrative opportunities that presents. So I'm fascinated by Black Siren. 
> 
> My knowledge of Arrow is now made up of the GIF sets, commentary and clips that I've seen posted on Twitter. (Thank you, Laurel Lance Defence Squad.) So, I've tagged this as canon divergent simply because I took a lot of creative liberties to fill in the blanks, either because I don't know the canon info or because the show hasn't explored said aspect of the story. So bare with me. I took some inspiration from comic book Dinah Laurel too!

Winter was fast approaching. Night fell over the twinkling landscape of Star City as people bundled themselves up in coats and scarves, searching for reprieve from the cutting wind.

Tucked away in a corner booth of a small Italian diner, sat Felicity Smoak and Dinah Laurel Lance. They'd only just been escorted to their table, and Laurel was still in the process of removing her jacket. She folded it up haphazardly and set it down on the bench seat beside her. When she looked over, she saw how Felicity was glancing around the restaurant, before her brow arched and her face became incredulous. Finally, her gaze settled on Laurel. 

“What?” Siren asked, somewhat defensively. She had been trying to be less hostile. But it would take time for her to thaw. It had been a long time since she had been able to take her guard down.

“Nothing,” Felicity rushed out, her palms were raised, open and forward. “It's nothing. It's just-”

“Just what?”

“Have you ever been here before?” She nodded toward the room behind them, and for some reason seemed flustered.

“No?” Laurel asked slowly, her voice lilted up towards the end. “Why?”

Felicity watched her for a prolonged moment, long enough to make her uncomfortable. But there was something in her expression, a wistfulness that Laurel couldn't comprehend.

“Laurel used to bring Thea here all the time. After patrol. Most of the time they'd just pick up a pizza to go, back when they were living together.” Felicity finally whispered, her gaze fell to the table top, as though she couldn't bare to look at Siren with the memory.

Laurel picked up the menu, she pretended to study it as Felicity collected herself. She couldn't help but sigh.

From what she had been able to gather since coming to this Earth,Thea had meant an awful lot to the other Laurel. In a lot of ways, Thea was left the most devastated by the loss. Ultimately, moving on had been what was best for her. Sometimes Siren wondered what would have happened if they'd had the chance to get to know one another.

The Thea on Earth 2 was a relative stranger. She'd been raised by her father, lived with him her whole life. Oliver barely knew her himself. It was just another thing that was so different. Laurel wondered if she'd ever fully adjust.

“Do you think that means something?” Felicity asked, unsure.

“I don't know.” Laurel shrugged. “Maybe. I doubt it.”

“I just- I'm trying to understand,” Felicity began. “I could talk statistics and studies and science but it's meaningless. Everything we know about dimensions and timelines is theoretical. You're not her, I know that. But sometimes-”

“I am.” Siren stated flatly. 

Felicity sputtered, her face grew hard. Her eyes were sharp. “You're n-”

“I _am_ ,” Siren cut her off. “You all think you know but you don't. You haven't lived it.”

“What do you mean?” Felicity pressed cautiously.

“I am Dinah Laurel Lance. Maybe not the one you're familiar with. But it's still who I am.” Siren ran a hand through her hair and blew out a long breath. “Think of it this way: we are all a patchwork of choices: our own, our parents, our friends. We grow and change in circumstance.”

“And?” Felicity asked. She wasn't stupid. She understood that the person she was didn't just come into fruition. If any life event had been different, the person she was would be irrevocably changed. But it was hard to apply that logic to Siren, it felt like a disrespect to Laurel’s memory.

“I didn't understand it at first. But then...Quentin.” She took in a haggard breath. The ache in her chest flared up. “He didn't raise me. He wasn't the man I knew. He may have been changed by the circumstances of another world but...He was my dad. In all the ways that counted.” Her voice grew soft, quiet, sad. “Enough for it to matter.”

“So what you're saying is…” Felicity trailed off.

“If your Laurel had gone through what I have gone through. If she had lived my life. She would be me. I'm living proof.”

“I can't accept that.” Felicity insisted. Her voice was hard but Siren could hear how it wavered.

“That doesn't make it any less true.”

They were silent for a few endless seconds, the tension between them was mounting. There was a lot of information to digest. Mercifully, their server came to take their order.

If the waitress noticed the atmosphere, she didn't show it. Laurel couldn't resist dropping her a wink as she passed over the menu. The woman's face flushed as their fingers grazed, and she quickly darted away.

“Were you just flirting with the waitress?” Felicity asked, sounding somewhat affronted.

“Why, are you jealous?” She teased. “You know this isn't a real date, right?”

Felicity just huffed.

Deciding that the tension was too much, Felicity opted to strike up a new tangent of conversation.

“So, you're not a lawyer,” she began casually.

“So everybody keeps telling me,” Laurel rebutted scathingly, with a stark roll of her eyes.

“No, I-...I just meant that, on your Earth, you weren't a lawyer like our Laurel was. So,” Felicity shrugged. “What did you do?”

“Oh,” Siren breathed softly. She was taken aback slightly, but almost thankful that Felicity seemed to be making an effort. “I-...I was a florist.”

Felicity blinked at her, seemingly lost for words. “I, uh, wasn't expecting that.”

“I enjoyed it. It was personal work. People put a lot of faith in me. But sometimes, it was just peaceful.” She gave a half smile as she thought back over the life she'd lost.

“It sounds really pretty. Kinda artsy.” Felicity grew quiet then, before finally continuing. “Laurel loved flowers.”

“Why is it so hard for you to believe that I'm as much her as she is me?”

Felicity pursed her lips, she didn't speak for a long time. Her fingers clenched and unclenched on the table top, and she couldn't meet Siren’s eyes when she finally said “You've killed people.”

And there it was. The main point of contention. The one thing that played on a loop in everyone's minds whenever they had to deal with her. The thing that kept her up at night. It didn't seem to matter to anyone that she'd been under duress, that she had been indebted. They didn't care to know how her whole life had been twisted and mangled and manipulated into a decaying, putrid thing. But even so, it was the double standard of it all, the moral high ground they all insisted on taking, that made her truly, spitting mad.

“So has Oliver,” She pointed out bluntly.

Suddenly, Felicity’s face grew stormy. Her eyes squinted from behind her glasses and she leant forward across the table. “That's not the same thing!” She hissed.

“Isn't it?” Laurel refuted calmly. Oliver had started on some self-righteous crusade fuelled by nothing more than his father's memory. He had played judge, jury and executioner in his father's name. “It's all the same to the victims, and to their families.”

Laurel thought then of Dinah. How she herself had never stopped long enough to acknowledge the pain she was causing. “I told you: our choices make us. I've done things I'm not proud of, things I will never be able to atone for, no matter how long I live or how much good I do. But I'm trying to make the right choices now.” 

She took in deep breaths to try and calm herself. She couldn't break now, she wouldn't. “For a long time, I lived in the world of kill or be killed. That's not something you just shake off.” She closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to keep the tears at bay. “Look, maybe it's easier for you all to keep pretending I'm evil incarnate, some black stain on the memory of _your_ Laurel. But that's not my fault, and you're only fooling yourselves.” 

They stared each other down. Neither one willing to relent. There was a steely glint in Felicity's eyes. That was the thing about Felicity, one of her most defining traits - she was stubborn to a fault. She was stubborn, and so very, very proud. She was unable to acknowledge when she was out of her depth. She refused to admit that she could ever be wrong.

The clattering of plates as their food was set down finally broke the silence. They ate for a while as they processed and composed themselves. Laurel wasn't sorry for what she had said. It was the truth. Besides, she had enough to feel sorry about already.

“Okay, look,” Laurel sighed, “I asked you out here as a sorta olive branch. I don't really know anyone and I figure if we're gonna be working together we should be able to be civil.”

“I get it. It probably sucks to be thrown into a whole new world and have all this information about all these people that no longer applies” Felicity shrugged. “I'd probably just wanna go for a pizza after work and be normal for a while too.”

Laurel nodded before taking a huge, cheesy bite of her pizza. She couldn't help but smirk when Felicity scrunched her nose up at the pineapple. “I swear this dinner wasn't supposed to get all heavy.”

“I guess we've all been so focused on what this all means for us, that we didn't stop to think about what it means for you.” Felicity admitted.

“Oh, I noticed.” Laurel replied, but her smile was teasing.

“I think I've been doing that a lot lately. Not just with you. I don't know, maybe it's an only child thing. Like, something happens and I start freaking and lashing out about how things will affect me and I don't even realize that I'm not the only one affected. I'm so caught up in my own stuff and I just do things and-”

“Felicity,” Laurel cut her off. “Breathe.”

“I guess what I'm saying is that my whole life, I've only had to look out for myself. Growing up, my mom was working a lot and I was alone a lot. I never had to share, or worry about someone else, or compromise for anyone.” 

“Are you just venting? Or is this going somewhere?” Laurel asked, but the amused arc of her brow took away any sting her words may have caused.

“Everyone can change. And keep learning. Is what I'm saying.” Felicity stammered.

“I agree.” Laurel smiled.

“I want to thank you.” Felicity began, but she seemed unsure.

“Thank me?”

“For helping Oliver. I know you're not doing it for him, or me. But you're putting yourself out and taking on a lot of responsibility for him even though he and I have been nothing but cruel to you.” Felicity sighed. “I was so caught up in my resentment for you that I couldn't see that's what I was doing. So, I guess I'm sorry, too.”

“It's a start.” Siren beamed and reached a hand across the table. Felicity extended her own and shook it. 

They weren't friends, not exactly. Maybe they would never grow to be any more than this. But there was an understanding there now, some foundation to build on. It was more than either one of them had known to expect. Maybe, just maybe, once Oliver was free - because together they would save him - things would start looking up.


End file.
